Student Learning Expectations

Janet M. Sheehan, Principal

Academic Expectations

All East Providence High School graduates must achieve proficiency in each of the PBGR requirements.

Social Expectations

All East Providence High School graduates must adhere to the school’s common core of respect, tolerance and responsibility by complying with school rules in demonstrating behavior that contributes to a positive learning community.

Civic Expectations

All East Providence High School graduates must complete 6 hours of community service each year they are in attendance at our school.

Introduction

2000 Pawtucket Ave. East Providence, RI 02914. Phone: (401) 435-7806 Fax: (401) 435-7864

Welcome to East Providence High School! Home of the Townies! The current East Providence High School opened its doors in 1952 as East Providence Senior High School. It replaced the original 1884 school building on Broadway that later became Central Junior High School. The East Providence School system consists of twelve schools in total; one specifically pre-kindergarten school, eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school, East Providence High School. That means that East Providence High School houses about 1,200 students from all of the five neighborhoods of East Providence; Riverside, Watchemoket, Kent Heights, Phillipsdale, and Rumford. There are about one-hundred and fifty faculty members working as teachers and about forty people who help as aides, secretaries, and maintenance making for a 6-1 faculty to student ratio In the last ten years, East Providence High School has had to renovate it's cafeteria, making it larger, and add a new "senior wing" to accommodate it's students. The high school features modern architecture, an up to date cafeteria and auditorium that can accommodate over a thousand students. As the school was being built, there was a construction of a clock tower which has become an iconic symbol for the high school.
Community Background

East Providence is slightly below the state average of $54,902 for median income. The average household income in East Providence is $50,319, which is also just below the national average of $51,425. East Providence also falls just below the state average of $28,707 per capita income at $27,853, just above the The United States per capita income of $27,041. These numbers show that poverty is is not necessarily an overwhelming issue in East Providence, but it is present. 9.3% of persons in East Province fall below the poverty line, only slightly lower than the Rhode Island average which is at 12.2% and just a fraction lower than the national average of 9.9%. These statistics seem to indicate that East Providence is a middle class community. Fiscal statistics are important in profiling a community in that poverty plays a large role in low performance numbers from schools due to the plights that come with living in a family that is not financially stable. Students from low income households have significantly more strains and preoccupations than higher income families such as stress, balancing school and work, etc. Similarly High income communities generally have higher preforming schools in that students that live in these areas have less out of school stress and more support in achieving in the classroom. While not statistically congruent with being an affluent community by any stretch, nor a a poverty stricken community, East Providence falls some where in the middle, average.

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The population of East Providence is predominately white at 84.0% (82.2% of which are white persons who are not Hispanic) which falls right in line with Rhode Island's average of 81.4%. Black persons make up 5.8%, Asians make up 1.5%, and Hispanic and Latinos make up 4.1% of the populations of East Providence. The population of East Providence is overwhelmingly white with all other races totaling combined percentage of only 16%. Ethnic diversity is an important aspect of profiling a school's community in that it indicates the diversity of the school itself and the possible racial barriers and related issues that are either or absent in the classroom based on a heavily diverse population of students verses a non-diverse population of students respectively. Being that the majority of the community and school share a common race reflects that the majority of statistics dealing with the school's performance are mainly pooled from that particular ethnicity, which in the case of East Providence happens to be predominately white.

District Summary

Districts

East Providence school district shows average performance statistics in NECAP testing in comparison to state numbers, with numbers either sightly higher or lower than the state numbers. However, that does not necessarily indicate that East Providence school are necessarily up to snub when compared to Barrington's reported NECAP scores which are much higher, twice as high in some instances. As far off as East Providence schools seem to be from top NECAP performers, they are certainly doing well enough when compared to Central Falls school district. Central Falls' NECAP scores report single digit numbers, and are exponentially lower than top performers such as Barrington. All in all, East Providence school district is performing at a comfortable level with some room for improvement. The following chart depicts the only NECAP scores available for high schools in the specified districts which seem to be a fair indication of what the numbers are across the boards for Rhode Island school district comparison.
Less than 1% of teachers in East Providence school district are emergency certified as oppose to Rhode Island's 1%, not exactly a reassuring statistic, but a comparably average one. East Providence school district has a total percentage of 3% teachers who are not highly certified as compared to Rhode Island's average of 3% which indicates that East Providence is average and right on track in that department. The teacher to student ratio of East Providence school district is 1:10 as compared to Rhode Island's cumulative school district average of 1:11 indicating that East Providence school, on average, have a slightly better, though still average, student to teacher ratio. The only notable differences in these statistics as opposed to Barrington or Central Falls that would provide any insight are that Barrington there are 0% teachers that are emergency certified and they have a 1:12 teacher to student ratio, and 1% of teachers are not highly qualified. An overwhelming number of Central Falls Teachers are not highly qualified, 6%.

Attendance rates of East Providence schools, particularly high schools is 95% to Rhode Island district average of 92%, a positive indication of student involvement in their education and investment in their futures. Chronic absenteeism is slightly high in East Providence schools at 20% to Rhode Island's district average of 18%. There is room for improvement in this area, but no real worry.
East Providence schools saw almost a 10% lower graduation rate in 2011 than statewide average of 77.2% at 67.5% which is mildly arming especially when coupled with the drop out statistic. East Providence schools saw a 4.3 drop out rate to a statewide 3.0%. East Providence has some room to improve in terms of attendance and graduation rate, but is, for the most part showing average numbers which do not indicate anything other than normal performance in these areas.

School Analysis
East Providence High school includes grades 9-12, evaluating performance based on NECAP standardized testing in grade 11 and SAT results in grade 12. East Providence High School exhibits mediocre NECAP scores that are an average of 26.25 points higher than statewide average scores in every category. East Providence exhibits relatively unimpressive, yet average NECAP scores consistent with the statewide average scores differing by an average of 4.5% in either direction. There is definite room for work in NECAP testing, however the scores are about average and pale in comparison to the work Central Falls High School has cut out for them if they intend to improve NECAP test results. East Providence High School's results were just under four times higher in math, just under twice as high in reading, well over twice as high in writing and a bit over four times higher in science than Central Falls NECAP results. However, that does not mean that East Providence is producing optimum NECAP results, especially when compared to Barrington High School. Barrington High School's NECAP scores were just under 3 times higher in math, just under twice as high in reading, over 1.5 times higher in writing, and basically twice as high in science in comparison to East Providence High School scores. Overall, East Providence High School's NECAP Scores are average.
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East Providence exhibits average SAT scores, none of which breaking 500. Compared to statewide average SAT scores, East Providence High school had lower scores in every category; 29 points lower in math and reading and 75 points lower in writing. However, if you added an additional 94 points to math and reading each and 100 points to writing the resulting figures would be Barrington High School's SAT results, respectively. In comparison to Central Falls High School, producing scores in math, reading and writing lower than East Providence High School's scores by 79, 85 and 71 points respectively, East Providence High School could be in much worse shape.

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East Providence High school has close to, but below, statewide average student characteristics in terms of eligibility for subsidized lunches and students receiving bilingual education services. Statistics show that slightly more East Providence High School students are receiving special education services, but still extremely close to average. To provide context; at Barrington High School and Central Falls High School 5% and 44% of students are eligible for subsidized lunches, less than 1% and 6% receive bilingual services and 13% and 16% of students receive special education services with East Providence High School falling roughly in the middle.

Conclusion
Having lived in East Providence all my life and having a good number of my childhood friends be East Providence High School alumni and current students I know that East Providence, and so to it's high school, is made up of mostly white, blue collar families who work hard. However, there is not much else to be said about East Providence High School's data besides, "average". Every single statistic in this report could at the very least be loosely considered average or close in value to the statewide average. I suppose "average" is better than "low preforming" and certainly more preferable. For the most part, families in East Providence that send their children to private school do so at a great cost to their own quality of living. That being the case many students attend East Providence High School by proxy which in some ways accounts for lower test scores as is the case in middle/low and low income area high schools. That is not said, of course, to discount low scores nor especially commend high scores. East Providence is a working class community with an average performing high school packed to the gills with grade 9 to 12 age kids from three different, rather large neighborhoods of East Providence. East Providence has put a lot of money into renovations to make the school bigger and more functional for the ever growing student population as well as more aesthetically pleasing for the community. TOWNIE PRIDE!!!

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